The Mycelium, or actively growing mushroom culture, was placed on a substrate of sterilized rye grains and induced to grow into those grains. This is called inoculation. Inoculated grains are referred to as spawn. This spawn is then inter-layered with the damp pasteurized straw inside a sterile bag in a still air environment to prevent contamination and closed to allow the mycelium to colonize. Once we have 100% colonization, then we place it in a “fruiting chamber”, which means another DIY project coming up!

Now, we wait as the mycelium colonizes the contents inside. Currently, you can see a white linear area forming just below the “5/8” in this photo taken yesterday (approx 7 days after the bag was innoculated). We will keep you updated as we approach life as amateur mycologists.

Hoping this works out well, then we can try to grow some more as long as there is a fungus among us 🙂